Gym Bag Makeup October 2014 (With a special guest appearance from Alex the bear)

I do realize that this post shares the same name as my blog. It’s a whole long story, but to sum up, Gym Bag Makeup posts are something along the lines of a favorites or fails post. It’s the space I use to tell you what makeup I’ve been toting to and from the gym. Otherwise known as mini-review time! Today, as an extra special Sunday bonus, there’s a bear story at the end! With pictures! And who doesn’t love a overly dramatic good bear story! Nobody, that’s who.

Just to be clear, I didn’t carry all three palettes with me all at the same time. Although if I had, that would explain why my back hurts so much. Sadly, I’m afraid it’s just old age. Sigh.

Hard Candy Top Ten Trendsetters Palette in Raining Men – I recently reviewed this and my initial review still stands. I think this is a lovely selection of colors at an absurdly reasonable price and oh my god why haven’t you bought this yet?!

Benefit Rockateur Blush – I’ve been meaning to write about this blush for a while but quite frankly there’s no way I could fill an entire post with chatter about this blush. Well I probably could, I excel at rambling, but it wouldn’t be good. ANYWAY, this is an odd blush in the sense that I keep thinking I don’t like it and yet, I find myself reaching for it more often than other blushes. It’s a pretty neutral rosy blush with a sheen and not a ton of color payoff. It gives a very natural flush and is probably best suited to those with very fair skin.

Milani Brow Tint Pen in Natural Taupe – This is my favorite brow product thus far. It’s incredibly easy to use, and has a good amount of warmth (I’m currently a red-head) without being straight up red.

bareMinerals Blush in Beauty – This was part of a Sephora point perk thing recently and it is also my first loose powder blush. I have to say, I’m not digging the format. It’s a very pretty pink blush but I find it a little inconvenient to work with. In future I will likely leave this for use at home rather than in the locker room. All that powder everywhere stresses me out man.

bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 in The Happy Place – Another product that I’m a bit indifferent about. The quality of the shadows in this quad are incredibly good. The pigmentation is intense and they blend very well. They are a bit easy to over blend and over apply but that’s not such a bad problem to have. For me, the downside is that I feel that the shades don’t necessarily work that well together. You can certainly create lovely looks with this but there’s something about the combination of colors that feels discordant to me. Not unworkable or bad, just not my favorite quad. I would get more use out of these shades if I de-potted them.

Maybelline Master Hi-Light in Nude – I erroneously thought that this would make a really good highlight however it’s in that shade range that is just a bit too dark for a highlight and a bit too light for a blush. I still use it because it’s gorgeous, but it’s not the most flattering shade on me. It is very good quality, finely milled powder and the sheen is stunning. It would be really ideal for someone just slightly more fair or dark than I.

Camp Cosmetics Blush in Glampuss – This is a recent acquisition to my collection and I have to say, I’m really loving this. It’s a frosty almost burnt orange and I may or may not have been wearing it with eye/lip looks that don’t really mesh with it. I don’t even care. This blush is amazeballs.

Camp Cosmetics Blush in Monogamy – This is by far the best product that I’ve found for contouring. If you are darker than I am, it might not show up as it translates as a subtle contour for me but for my purposes, I adore it. I’ve been using this under my cheekbones every day and glorying in my Maleficent-ness.

Camp Cosmetics Eyeshadow in Gypsy – This is a great, pigmented, long lasting gold eyeshadow, I’ve used it a handful of times and loved the way it looks every time I wear it. Maybe not the most unique shade in the world? I definitely have a collection of shades that are similar if not the same but…it’s a good shade ok!

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Fierce & Tangy – This is one of two matte shades in the original range of color tattoos and it’s a beautiful, bright true orange. I obsessed about purchasing this color for weeks before I finally got my greedy little hands on it. Performance wise, it’s great and on par with all other color tattoos. My one complaint is that I’ve had it for around a year and it’s really drying out. Maybe it’s time to toss actually. A year is a little gross. 😐

Dior Fusion Mono in Meteore – Staying true to what I’ve previously stated about this product, I mostly forgot to use this again. It’s a shame because it’s really pretty, I just forget about it. Maybe I’ve developed some weird mental block? I don’t really know.

L’Oreal Visible Lift Blur Blush in Soft Berry – Who do we petition to stop the madness that is happening with these ridiculously long product names? It’s driving me insane! This is an interesting cream blush, in fact, it’s not really cream blush so much as silicone blush. It has the same consistency as the Miracle Blur Primer (so…silicone textured) and melts into the skin leaving a pretty but faint flush of color. It’s ok, I’m not blown away by it but I don’t hate it either.

bareMinerals (deluxe sample size) Ready 2.0 Eyeshadow in The Top Shelf – First, I realize that the picture with the swatch says TOO SHELF, not TOP shelf. I blame the bear. It’s totally distracting me. This was the other portion of the Sephora perk with the blush. This is a really popular duo and the colors are lovely and perform similarly to all other bareMinerals eyeshadows that I’ve tried.

Hard Candy Top Ten Trendsetters Palette in Birthday Suit – My original assessment of this palette still stands. It’s a great accompaniment to the other palettes in this line and the low cost makes it a good option if you don’t own any neutral matte eyeshadow. It’s not very versatile and most of the shades are very similar to one another but for six bucks, it’s a pretty darn good palette.

Urban Decay Vice 3 Palette – I just reviewed this on Friday but suffice it to say, it’s a good quality palette that is quite versatile. Not my new all time favorite, but a really good palette that I’m enjoying a lot.

There you have it, mini reviews and swatches of the makeup I’ve been loving or feeling indifferent about for the last few weeks. If you only came for the makeup, thank you for reading and I hope you have an awesome day! If you’re hear for the bear, well, hunker down because I’m clearly feeling particularly chatty today.

Thing Cat (that’s her name, please withhold all judgement) and I were taking advantage of the lovely weather yesterday and were sitting outside reading and napping respectively. I do so love a good nap! But I digress (and now I’m thinking about cats reading. The inside of my head is a very strange place.) So. Sitting outside, when Thing Cat perks up and does the super intense lazer beam eyes stare into the distance. If you’ve spent time around cats you know this isn’t unusual and can signal anything from the arrival of a particularly yummy grasshopper to ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. That always freaks me out. So I assume that one of the neighbor cats is going to come around the corner and Thing Cat is preparing to do battle. When nothing immediately appears I get up to go see what she’s staring at and I see the biggest blackest cat in the whole world rounding the corner of my house (because EVERYONE knows that bears only live in the mountains and that even though my neighbors have claimed to see bears they’re obviously just big fat liars. Neighbors, if you’re reading this, I totally believe you now and am sorry I ever doubted you.)

Now, in the past I’ve felt a little paranoid when I plot out my action plans should I be beset by bears or hyenas or very large spiders so, thankfully, I knew exactly what to do! (I would also like to point out that it’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you and quite frankly, this entire anecdote proves this so I feel vindicated) I scooped up Thing Cat (who was shockingly ungrateful and scratched me all to shit in order to avoid my gallant rescue) and ran to the front door sure that I was being pursued by The Bear (henceforth known as Alex). When I got to the door I turned to see if I had made it in time and Alex was, not surprisingly perhaps, completely unconcerned with my existence because who cares about people when there’s a garbage can to be had? Am I right? I have to say, I think Alex may have raided a garbage bin a time or two (or 20) in the past because he/she seemed to really have a system down for the whole thing. Just grab the bin, tip it onto the wheels, drag it to the desired tipping over spot, then forage to your hearts content. I personally have a much harder time moving the garbage bin without it tipping over than Alex did.

Pictures or it didn’t happen:

Alex makes a fabulous debutThat would be Alex not caring one iota that I’m filming him (or her, I have no idea)This is apparently a much better place to overturn the bin.Alex’ dietary preferences run towards moldy bagels.The importance of picking the ideal dining location cannot be stressed enough. You definitely don’t want to be too close to the bin or you get that nasty wafting garbage smell and that’ll just ruin your appetite!After about 20 minutes, Alex figured our garbage selection was actually kind of lacking.And Alex walked off into the sunset, to maraud another day.

Really, Alex was pretty chill, The Boy wasn’t too happy because he had to clean up the garbage and Grey Cat (YES IT’S HIS NAME, STOP JUDGING MY CATS YO!) was kind of pissed because I wouldn’t let him chase the big cat but all in all, as far as potentially life threatening encounters with nature go, it was pretty cool. And I’ll have you know, I’m only slightly nervous about going outside now.